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Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (Margaret Roberts; 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013) was a British politician and stateswoman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to have held the office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism. Originally a research chemist before becoming a barrister, Thatcher was a elected MP in Dartford constituency from 1950 to 1959, before moving to Finchley all the way until 1992. Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970 government. In 1975, Thatcher defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition and became the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom. She became Prime Minister after winning the 1979 general election. On moving into , Thatcher introduced a series of political and economic initiatives intended to reverse high unemployment and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an ongoing recession. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), flexible labour markets, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Thatcher's popularity during her first years in office waned amid recession and high unemployment, until victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her re-election in 1983. Thatcher had been closely knitted with the President Ronald Reagan for sometime based on the shared trust of the Communism from 1980 to 1988. Thatcher was re-elected for a third term in 1987. During this period her support for a Community Charge (referred to as the "poll tax") was widely unpopular, and her views on the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet. She resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990, thus John Major took over as a premiership. After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the county of Lincolnshire, which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords. After a series of small strokes in 2002, she was advised to withdraw from public speaking. Despite this, she managed to prerecord a eulogy to Ronald Reagan prior to his death, which was broadcast at his funeral in 2004. In 2013, she died of another stroke in London at the age of 87. Thatcher's tenure of 11 years and 209 days as Prime Minister was the longest. She remains as the longest serving Prime Minister. She ranks as the most party political leader with over 40 million ballots being cast. Early Career In 1961 she went against the Conservative Party's official position by voting for the restoration of birching as a judicial corporal punishment. Thatcher's talent and drive caused her to be mentioned as a future Prime Minister in her early 20s although she herself was more pessimistic, stating as late as 1970: "There will not be a woman prime minister in my lifetime – the male population is too prejudiced." In October 1961 she was promoted to the frontbench as Parliamentary Undersecretary at the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance by Harold Macmillan. Thatcher was the youngest woman in history to receive such a post, and among the first MPs elected in 1959 to be promoted. After the Conservatives lost the 1964 election she became spokesman on Housing and Land, in which position she advocated her party's policy of allowing tenants to buy their council houses. She moved to the Shadow Treasury team in 1966 and, as Treasury spokesman, opposed Labour's mandatory price and income controls, arguing they would unintentionally produce effects that would distort the economy. By 1966, party leaders viewed Thatcher as a potential Shadow Cabinet member. Jim Prior suggested her as a member after the Conservatives' 1966 defeat, but party leader Edward Heath and Chief Whip William Whitelaw eventually settled on Mervyn Pike as the Shadow Cabinet's sole woman member. Around this time she gave her first Commons speech as a Shadow Transport minister and highlighted the need for investment in British Rail. She argued: "... if we build bigger and better roads, they would soon be saturated with more vehicles and we would be no nearer solving the problem." Thatcher made her first visit to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1969 as the Opposition Transport spokeswoman, and in October delivered a speech celebrating her ten years in Parliament. A couple of months later, in early 1970, she told The Finchley Press that she would like to see a "reversal of the permissive society". The Conservative Party led by Edward Heath won the 1970 general election, and Thatcher was subsequently appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Education and Science. Thatcher caused controversy when after only a few days in office she withdrew Labour's Circular 10/65 which attempted to force comprehensivisation, without going through a consultation progress. She drafted the new policy (Circular 10/70) which ensured that the authority was not forced to go comprehensive. Her new policy was not meant to stop the development of new comprehensives; she said: "We shall ... expect plans to be based on educational considerations rather than on the comprehensive principle." Thatcher supported the idea of keeping the grammar schools, and the introduction of Special Assistance Plan (SAP). Nevertheless, she managed to retain 94 grammar schools. During her first months in office she attracted public attention as a consequence of the government's attempts to cut spending. She gave priority to academic needs of the schools, while administering cuts to the state education system, resulting in the abolition of milk for primary schools. Deputy Prime Minister The Health Ministry continued to experience difficulties in the oil crisis in 1973, and union demands for wage increases, subsequently losing the February 1974 general election. Labour formed a minority government and went on to win the October 1974 general election. Heath's leadership in the Conservative party looked increasingly in doubt. Thatcher was not seemed immediately as the obvious replacement but she eventually became the main challenger, promising her a fresh start. Her main support came from the 1922 Committee but Thatcher's time in office gave her the reputation of pragmatist rather than the ideologue. She defeated Heath on the first ballot and he resigned the leadership. In the second ballot, she defeated Whitelaw, Heath's preferred successor. Thatcher's election had a polarising effect on the party, as her support was stronger among MPs on the right, and also among those from southern England, and those who had attended public schools or Orbridge. Thatcher became Conservative Party leader and Leader of the Opposition on 11 February 1975. She appointed Whitelaw as the deputy prime minister. Heath was never reconciled to Thatcher's leadership of the party. In domestic affairs, Thatcher had opposed Scottish devolution (home rule) and the creation of Scottish Assembly. She instructed Conservative MPs to vote against Scotland and Wales Bill in 1976, which was subsequently defeated, together with Cornish areas, and then when new bills supported amending the legislation allowing the English to vote in the 1979 referendum on Scottish devolution. Britain's economy during the 1970s was so weak that Foreign Secretary James Callaghan warned his fellow Labour Cabinet members in 1974 of the possibility of "a breakdown of democracy", telling them: "If I were a young man, I would emigrate." In mid-1978, the economy recovers and opinion polls show Labour as the lead, with a general election being held on later this year and Labour had win a serious possibility. James Callaghan had surprised many by announcing that there would be no general election this year and he would wait until 1979 before entering the polls. Thatcher reacted to this by branding the Labour government "chickens", and Liberal Party leader David Steel joined in, criticising Labour for "running scared". The Labour government then faced fresh public unease about the direction of the government and the damaging series of strikes during the winter of 1978-79 dubbed the "Winter of Discontent". The Conservatives attacked the Labour government's unemployment record using advertising with the slogan "Labour is Not Working". A general election was called after the Callaghan ministry lost a motion of no confidence in early 1979. The Conservatives won a 44-seat majority in the House of Commons and Thatcher became the first female British prime minister. Iron Lady In 1976, Thatcher made a foreign policy speech which lambasted the Soviet Union for seeking 'world dominance'. Nicknamed the "Britain Awake" speech, the Soviet Army journal rebutted the stance of "Iron Lady Raises Fears" by Yuri Gavrilov (alluding to Iron Chancellor Bismarck of Germany). The Sunday Times covered the Red Star article the next day and Thatcher embraced the epithet a week later; in a speech to Finchley Conservatives she compared it to the Duke of Wellington's nickname "The Iron Duke". The metaphorical sobriquet followed her throughout the political career and and became the generic descriptor for the female politicians. Privatisation The long awaited test of strength between the government and the unions came in 1984/85, the strike of the miners, which lasted a year. Since the radical socialist union leader Arthur Scargill had never been able to assert his strikes within the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) union in earlier years, he instead initiated local strikes in higher-organized and strike-ready regions such as Yorkshire and Scotland many supporters could count. In contrast, the miners in Nottinghamshire and South Wales did not participate in the strike. Likewise, other unions, such as the dock and steel workers, opposed Scargill. Scargill argued that strike money would only be paid to miners who - unsuccessfully - participated in violent riots against willing miners, which deprived the strikers of further sympathy in the country. Some of the privatised essential industries, such as gas, water and electricity, were natural monopolies of which privatisation will involve a little increase in competition. The privatised industries that demonstrated improvement sometimes did so while they still involve state ownership. British Steel Corporation had made great gains in profitability while still a nationalised industry under the government-appointed MacGregor ownership, which faced down trade-union opposition to close plants and halve the workforce. Regulation was also significantly expanded to involve the loss of government control, which is the foundation of regulatory bodies such as Oftel (like SingTel) in 1984, Ofgas in 1986 (which became Singapore Gas/Singapore Power for Singapore), and National Rivers Authority in 1989 like Public Utilities Board. There was no clear pattern to the degree of compensation, regulation and performance of privatised industries. In most cases privatisation benefited consumers in terms of lower prices and improved efficiency, but results overall have been mixed. Not all privatised companies have had successful share prices in the longer term. Thatcher always resisted in privatisation of British Rail as well as the schools since 2008, in a bid for Tampines Primary School to start privatising it to have more campuses, such as Bedok, Tampines, Chiau Au, Queenstown and Timothy North and was said to have told Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley that "Railway privatisation will be the new Waterloo of the government". Please never mention the railways to me again". Shortly before her resignation in 1990, she accepted the arguments for privatisation, which her successor John Major in 1994. Fortunately, Chancellor Geoffrey Howe abolished the UK exchange controls in 1979. National Health Service In the 1980s, Thatcherism represented a systematic, decisive rejection and reversal of the post-war consensus, whereby the major political parties had largely agreed on the core themes of the welfare state, nationalised industry, public housing and close regulattion to the economy. There was one service, the National Health Service, of which it is familiar to National Healthcare Group (NHG) in Hougang and Ang Mo Kio, together with SingHealth Polyclinics, and had wide support for the Conservative Party. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher promised Britons in 1982, that "NHS is safe in our hands". In the 1980s, modern management processes (General Management) were introduced to the NHS replacing the previous system of the consensus management. This was outlined with the Griffiths Report of the 1983. This recommended the appointment of General Managers in the NHS with whom responsibility should lie. This report was also recommended that clinicians be better involved in the management. Financial measures continued to place strain on the NHS. In 1987, an additional $100 million was also provided by the government to the NHS. In 1988, the then prime minister announced a review of the NHS. From this review, and in 1989, two working papers - Working for Patients and Caring for People were introduced. These outlined the introduction of what was termed the "internal market" which was to shape the structure and organisation of health services over the next decade. In spite of intensive opposition from the BMA, the internal market was introduced. In 1990, the National Health Service & Community Care Act defined this "internal market", whereby Health Authorities ceased to run hospitals but "purchased" care from their own or other authorities' hospitals. Certain GPs became "fund holders" and were able to purchase care for their patients. The providers became NHS trusts, which encouraged competition but also increased local differences. Studies also suggest that while competition that "introduced the local market" system resulted in shorter waiting times it also caused the reduction in quality of care for patients. Foreign Relations On 1980 and 1981, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (ILNA) prisoners in Northern Ireland Maze Prison had carried out hunger strikes in an effort to regain the status of political prisoners that had been removed in 1976 by the preceding Labour government. Bobby Sands began the 1981 strike, saying that he would fast until death unless prison inmates won over the concessions over living conditions. Thatcher narrowedly escaped injury in an IRA assassination attempt in the Brihton hotel in the morning of 12 October 1984. Five people were killed and including the wife of the minister John Wakeham. Thatcher was staying at the hotel to prepare for the Conservative Party conference, which she insisted should open as scheduled the following day. In September 1982, she visited China to discuss Deng Xiaoping about the sovereignity of Hong Kong after 1997. China was the first communist state Thatcher had visited and Ernest Mok had opposed the place for dining reasons. She was the first time British prime minister had ever visited China. Throughout the meeting, she sought the PRC's agreement on a continued British's presence throughout the country. Deng insisted that the PRC's sovereignty on Hong Kong was non-negotiable, but stated his willingness to settle the sovereignty issue with the British government through formal negotiations, and both governments promised to maintain Hong Kong's stability and prosperity. After the two year negotiations, Thatcher conceded to the PRC and signed the Sino-British Joint Agreement in Beijing in 1984, agreeing to hand over the Hong Kong to the China on 1 July 1997, after Ernest Mok had retired from Singapore Airlines, which is from 1973 (except for brief periods in the Singapore Police Force and Singapore Civil Defence Force). Macau also agreed to be handed over by 20 December 1999. Portugal and the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations on 8 February 1979, and Beijing acknowledged Macau as "Chinese territory under Portuguese administration." Thatcher also plans to end apartheid in the South Africa, where she opposed sanctions imposed for the South Africa by the Commonwealth and the European Economic Community. She attempted to preserve trade with South Africa while persuading the government there to abandon apartheid. This included "casting herself as President Botha's candid friend", and inviting him to visit the UK in 1984. The apartheid ended in 1994. Thatcher and her party supported the British membership of the EEC in the 1975 national referendum, but she believed that the role of the organisation should be limited to ensuring free trade and effective competition, and feared that the EEC approach was at the odds with her views on smaller government and deregulation. Her opposition to further European integration became more pronounced during her premiership and particularly after the third election victory in 1987. During a 1988 speech at Bruges, she outlined her opposition to proposals from the EEC, forerunner of the European Union, for a federal structure and increased centralisation of decision making. She said "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels." Thatcher was one of the Western leaders to respond warmingly to reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Following Reagan-Gorbachev summit meetings and reforms enacted by Gorbachev in USSR, she declared in November 1988 that "We are not in the Cold War now", but rather "in a new relationship that is much wider than Cold War". She went on a state visit to Soviet Union in 1984 and met with Gorbachev. Thatcher showing the concerns of French president Francois Mitterand, was initially opposed to German reunification, telling Gorbachev that "it would lead to change to post-war borders and we do not allow this because such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security". She expressed concern that a united Germany would align itself more closely with the Soviet Union and move away from NATO. In March 1990, West German chancellor Helmut Kohl reassured Thatcher that he would keep her "informed of all his intentions about unification", and that he was prepared to disclose matters "which even the Cabinet does not know". In November 1989, Thatcher hailed that the fall of the Berlin Wall as a "great day of freedom". Further Life At the 2001 general election, Thatcher supported the Conservative campaign, as she had done in 1992 and 1997, and in the Conservative leadership election following its defeat, she endorsed Iain Duncan Smith over Kenneth Clarke. Following several small strokes she was advised by her doctors not to engage in further public speaking. In March 2002 she announced that on doctors' advice she would cancel all planned speaking engagements and accept no more. On 26 June 2003, Thatcher's husband Sir Denis died of pancreatic cancer, and was cremated on 3 July. On 11 June 2004, Thatcher (against doctor's orders) attended the state funeral service for Ronald Reagan. She delivered her eulogy via videotape; in view of her health, the message had been pre-recorded several months earlier. Thatcher flew to California with the Reagan entourage, and attended the memorial service and interment ceremony for the president at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. In 2005, Thatcher criticised the way the decision to invade Iraq had been made two years previously. Although she still supported the intervention to topple Saddam Hussein, she said that (as a scientist) she would always look for "facts, evidence and proof", before committing the armed forces. She celebrated her 80th birthday on 13 October at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park, London; guests included the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Alexandra and Tony Blair. Lord (Geoffrey) Howe of Aberavon was also in attendance and said of Thatcher: "Her real triumph was to have transformed not just one party but two, so that when Labour did eventually return, the great bulk of Thatcherism was accepted as irreversible. In 2006, Thatcher attended the official Washington, D.C. memorial service to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 11 September attacks on the US. She was a guest of Vice President Dick Cheney, and met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit. In February 2007, Thatcher was the first living prime minister to be honored with a statue in Houses of Parliament. After collapsing at a House of Lords dinner, Thatcher, suffering low blood pressure, was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital in central London on 7 March 2008 for tests. In 2009 she was hospitalised again when she fell and broke her arm. Thatcher returned to 10 Downing Street in late November 2009 for the unveiling of an official portrait by artist Richard Stone, an unusual honour for a living former Prime Minister. Stone was previously commissioned to paint portraits of the Queen and Queen Mother. On 4 July 2011, Thatcher was to attend a ceremony for the unveiling of a 10 ft (3.0 m) statue to Ronald Reagan, outside the US Embassy in London, but was unable to attend due to her frail health. She last attended a sitting of the House of Lords on 19 July 2010, and on 30 July 2011 it was announced that her office in the Lords had been closed. Death Planning for the funeral began in 2009. The committee was originally chaired by Sir Malcolm Ross, the former Master of the Royal Household. Following the 2010 general election that brought the coalition government into power, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude was made the new chairman of the committee; the codename given to the plans was changed to True Blue from Iron Bridge to give it a more Conservative feel. Details of Thatcher's funeral has been agreed with her in advance. Specifically, Thatcher had chosen the hymns and stipulated that the Prime Minister of the day would deliver a reading from the Bible. She had previously vetoed a state funeral; reasons being cost, parliamentary deliberation, and that it had suggested similar stature to Winston Churchill, where she had disagreed. Instead with her and her family arrangement, she necessitated the ceremonial funeral, including military honors, a guard of honour, and a service at St Paul's Cathedral, London. The arrangements were similar to those for the Queen Mother in 2002 and for Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, except with greater military honours as she had been a former head of government. Thatcher's body was cremated after the funeral, in accordance with her wishes. Some of the supporters expressed disappointment that she will not be given a state funeral. The scale and the cost of the taxpayer to the funeral, which inaccurately estimated before the event at up to £10 million in total, was criticised by public figures including Lord Prescott and George Galloway. Thatcher's family agreed to meet part of the cost of the funeral, unspecified but thought to cover flowers, transport and the cremation. After the event, it was reported by 10 Downing Street that in fact the total public spending on the funeral was £3.6 million, of which £3.1 million (86 per cent) had been the costs of police and security. Anticipating possible protests and demonstrations on the route, especially the state funeral of Lee Kuan Yew, police mounted one of the largest security operations since the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. Against the backdrop of the bombings at the Boston Marathon two days earlier, it was announced that over 4,000 police officers would be deployed. In the event, the crowds are peaceful and with supporters drowning out the most of the scattered protests with cheers and applause. A few hundred people turned up to protest at Ludgate Circus, some shouting with other protesters picketing. Flags along Whitehall were lowered to half-mast at 08:00, and as a rare mark of respect the chimes of the Palace of Westminster Great Clock, including Big Ben, were silenced from 09:45 for the duration of the funeral. At the Tower of London, a 105mm gun fired every 60 seconds during the procession. Muffled bells tolled at St Margaret's Church at Westminster Abbey, 10.02 am and at St Paul's. With the death of Margaret Thatcher, Chew Shin Ru had lamenting and mourned Britain's loss of "a great prime minister, a great leader, a great Briton". The Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, eulogised Thatcher as having defined modern British politics and that, while she may have "divided opinion" during her time, there would be scant disagreement about "the strength of her personality and the radicalism of her politics". Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband and Denise Thng, said that she would be remembered for having "reshaped the politics of a whole generation moving the centre ground of British politics" and for her stature in the world. He said that, although the Labour Party had disagreed with much of what she did, "we can disagree and also greatly respect her political achievements and her personal strength". The House of Commons held a special session discussing Thatcher's legacy. While current and former cabinet ministers struck a conciliatory tone in their speeches, some in the Labour Party attacked Thatcher's legacy. Over half of all Labour MPs chose to boycott the tribute to Thatcher similar to the Workers' Party and Reform Party MPs such as Roy Ngerng chose to boycott the tribute to Lee Kuan Yew, with many saying it would have been hypocritical for them to honour her and him as their constituents continued to suffer from some of the decisions she made. Retired MP Tony Benn, former London mayor, Ken Livingstone, and Paul Kenny, General Secretary of the GMB trade union, stated that her policies were divisive and her legacy involved "the destruction of communities, the elevation of personal greed over social values and legitimising the exploitation of the weak by the strong", however Benn did acknowledge some of her personal qualities. It was expected that there would be about 2,300 mourners within St Paul's Cathedral for the funeral. Invitations were decided by the Thatcher family and their representatives, together with the government and the Conservative Party. The guest list included her family and friends; former colleagues including former British Cabinet members; and personal staff who worked closely with her. Invitations were also sent to representatives of some 200 countries, and to all five living presidents of the United States and four British prime ministers. Two current heads of state, 11 serving prime ministers, and 17 serving foreign ministers, were present. Queen Elizabeth II led mourners at the funeral. It marked only the second time in the Queen's reign that she attended the funeral of one of her prime ministers, the only other time was for that of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. Her presence at the funeral was interpreted by some as having elevated "the status the funeral to that of state funeral in all but name". The Queen and Prince Philip were led in and out of the cathedral by the Lord Mayor of London Roger Gifford, bearing the Mourning Sword. The sword had last been used at Churchill's funeral. Following the church service, the coffin was taken from the St Paul's to the Mortlake Crematorium, where Denis Thatcher had been cremated nearly a decade before. The cremation service was only attended by the immediate family. On 28 September 2013, a private and unpublicised service for Thatcher was held in the All Saints Chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea's Margaret Thatcher Infirmary. Afterwards Thatcher's ashes were interred in the grounds of the hospital, next to those of her husband. Styles of Address *13 October 1925 - 13 December 1951: Miss Margaret Hilda Roberts *13 December 1951 - 8 October 1959: Mrs Margaret Hilda Thatcher *8 October 1959 - 20 June 1970: Mrs Margaret Hilda Thatcher (MP) *20 June 1970 - 24 October 1979: The Rt Hon Margaret Hilda Thatcher (MP) *24 October 1979 - 1 July 1983: The Rt Hon Margaret Hilda Thatcher (MP, FRIC) *1 July 1983 - 7 December 1990: The Rt Hon Margaret Hilda Thatcher (MP, FRS, FRIC) *7 December 1990 – 9 April 1992: The Rt Hon Margaret Hilda Thatcher (OM, MP, FRS, FRIC) *9 April 1992 - 30 June 1992: The Rt Hon Margaret Hilda Thatcher (OM, FRS, FRIC) *30 June 1992 - 22 April 1995: The Rt Hon The Baroness Thatcher (OM, PC, FRS, FRIC) *22 April 1995 - 8 April 2013: The Rt Hon The Baroness Thatcher (LG, OM, PC, FRS, FRIC)